Toward coexistence:

Senior Islamic figures visit Samaria

Prominent Egyptian Sheikh meets Samaria council leader. 'If we live by the values of the Koran and the Torah we can live in peace.'

Arutz Sheva Staff, 08/01/19 17:06

Sheikh Salem and Yossi Dagan

Roi Hadai

Senior Islamic figures from Egypt, Iraq and Syria have visited Samaria in recent weeks, some in secrecy.

Among the visitors were Egyptian Sheikh Dr. Omar Salem and Prof. Ra'ad Salem Na'aman from Iraq. Sheikh Salem met with the head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan, visited the Barkan industrial zone and was exposed to examples of coexistence in the area and at other sites in Samaria.

Sheikh Salem said in his meeting with Dagan that "we want you here, in this region, in the Middle East. We feel that you are fulfilling the prophecy so that we will all live together as brothers and friends. The Torah and the Koran are amazing books. Both are from Allah and both call to act in the world according to good values. This is what we want and we want our leaders to have the same good values ​​that exist in our books."

"Get rid of Oslo, get rid of the secular ways of life, because they will not create peace here. This land is sacred. It means that there are values ​​that should be respected here. Western values ​​may be good, but they are not good here. We have to live according to our values ​​fro, the books of the Torah and the Qur'an, and, G-d willing, if we do so we can live together.

"The Palestinians will be happy, they will have respect, and the Jews will have security on this land, because once the Jews have security and the Palestinians have dignity, we will no longer have problems. All the borders will be open and the entire Middle East will be one and we will become a good model for humanity," Sheikh Salem added.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan told him: "I am very happy that you came here, I respect you, I heard a lot about you too, we are the sons of Abraham. The problem is in the context we discussed earlier, that all the processes that happen here today are conducted by those people who do not believe. And a believer does not have to be the person with the biggest skullcap."

"When someone kills a 3-day-old baby, I do not think that that person is a believer. I believe that once the things you said, which are very important things, will be publicly acknowledged, and once the Muslim clerics respect the Jews who build the Land of Israel, Egypt, Israel and the entire Middle East, then we can live in peace. Out of respect for what G-d said, and for what our sons are doing - we can live here in true peace," added Dagan.